Easy targets, journalists under direct fire in the UK

The safety
advisories sent out by the International News Safety Institute on Tuesday said
it all: "Bring a mobile phone with emergency numbers pre-set for speed dialling;
bring eye protection such as swimming goggles; carry first-aid kits and know
how to use them; wear loose, natural-fabric clothing as it will not burn as
readily as synthetics; and remember there is always the possibility of gasoline
bombs being detonated."

Since urban
riots started in several British cities on Saturday night, journalists have literally
been under fire. Civil disturbances always carry the risk of getting in harm's
way for reporters--they can find themselves being trapped between police and
demonstrators; they can be hit by missiles, bludgeoned by security forces,
suffocated by tear gas, or drowned by water cannons. These are all risks that
come with the job.

However, in this week's riots, British journalists have been
the direct targets of violence, leading professional organizations such as the
National Union of Journalists to send warning messages and provide safety
advice and guidance. CPJ has also firmly condemned these attacks in a statement.
"News organizations must take precautions, said CPJ executive director Joel
Simon, but we hope demonstrators recognize that it is in the public interest
for journalists, as independent observers, to witness and report the facts."

The list of
incidents highlights a pattern of attacks against the media. Mark Stone, a Sky
News reporter, just back from an assignment in Libya, was chased by rioters and
forced to flee during disturbances near Clapham Junction in London on Monday.
BBC and Sky News reporters had to retreat when their vehicles had their windows
smashed by rioters in Croydon the same day. CNN's Dan Rivers had to take
protection behind police lines in Peckham when bottles started to rain down
around him.

As is
usually the case in street riots, photojournalists have been bearing the brunt
of violence against the media. "If your pictures are not good enough, you are
not close enough," photojournalist Robert Capa famously said. Photographers are
the most visible and their equipment provides an easy and iconic target for
robbers or vandals. Several of them have been kicked and beaten and have had
their equipment smashed by gangs of lawless youth.

Journalists
at major news organizations have received advisories on how to confront the
threats of violence. According to The
Guardian, "the BBC and Sky News are understood to have hired private
security guards to accompany their cameramen, after they attracted hostility on
Saturday." Some photojournalists also try to remain as inconspicuous as
possible "by using high-definition flip cameras that look like mobile phones
but take professional quality images," The
Guardian said.

These
attacks against journalists in Britain reflect a wider European pattern of
hostility toward the media in the course of civil disturbances. During the 2005
riots in the French banlieues, journalists in general and television reporters
in particular were also targeted by rioters and looters. Journalists are often accused
of being "part of the system" and in cahoots with the Establishment. Although
the London media, depending on their liberal or conservative editorial line,
disagree on the causes of the riots "all national newspapers," writes Guardian columnist Roy
Greenslade, "agree on one thing: it [looting and pillaging] must be stopped
and the police efforts to restore order must be supported."

Some suspect
the media may be giving over incriminating evidence to the police. In the U.K.,
under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the police can obtain an order
from a judge forcing the media to provide unpublished material. "Sadly," writes
media law consultant David
Banks, "the courts have not often been sympathetic to media arguments that
handing over material prevents them from doing their jobs. This leaves
journalists caught in the middle between the police, who regard them as a
hindrance, and rioters, who regard them as evidence-gatherers."

CPJ EU Correspondent Jean-Paul Marthoz is a Belgian journalist and longtime press freedom and human rights activist. He teaches international journalism at the Université catholique de Louvain and is a columnist for the Belgian daily Le Soir.

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